Summer vacation and Chess!

I hope Vishwanathan Anand does not read this article. He is likely to get sleepless nights that his favorite game was treated with such irreverence. But this essay goes back to a time when Anand was yet to hit world stage. Back then, only two individuals were playing the game on the entire planet- Karpov and Kasparov. At least, the Chess ignoramus that I was, no third name came to mind.

The Chess board gathered dust in the cupboard. Once a year, during summer vacation, it was brought out with great fanfare when all other entertainment was blocked. It was too hot to go out, there was no TV, no comics to read and the children in the neighborhood had gone to their native places. That left my sister and me to battle it out at home. And what can be better than a cerebral game like Chess for an engaging afternoon?

Chess is an acquired taste, much like Mathematics. There are people who take to it like a fish to water. And then, there are others who tolerate it. It entirely depends on how you are wired. But like the basics of Arithmetic, you know how the pieces move. That is enough to play the game. My sister was a shade better than me, which is not saying much, but it made for an even contest.

In the absence of formal tutoring, a Chess upstart devices his own strategy. One of them is to play “black” and exactly follow the opponent move for move. If the white pawn is moved, you move the same pawn on your side. If the Bishop is moved 3 spaces, you do the same. It makes the opponent nervous as though you are stalking them. My sister was clearly irked. “You copy cat! Don’t you have your own mind?” The trick is to silently endure the barbs, make the opponent so ill at ease, that they forfeit the game.

Sound effects add an element of suspense to the move. Or you use it to irritate the opponent. Each time you move the Knight, you imitate clip-clop of the horse, and when it comes to a standstill, let out a full throated neigh! If you move the Queen, you mouth an evil punchline from the latest Bollywood thriller. If you cut a piece, you strike it with such force, that it goes tumbling and takes it with, a few adjoining pieces! The mind games help- the opponent becomes tentative, makes an obvious mistake and the game is yours.

When none of the strategies work, you simply delay the game, pondering for an eternity before every move. It gives the impression that each move is calculated and precise. After a point, the opponent loses patience. “Why do you take so much time just to move a pawn? What are you thinking?” “I was thinking about the ice-cream we are going to have in the evening!” “Enough! Stop day-dreaming and play the game!” It is easy to end a game of Chess when it is not going your way. All it requires is a little nudge to the board, as if you have clumsily upset it. No one recalls the position of the pieces and you need to start afresh.

Playing Chess with the neighborhood champion is a different ball game. He is too good for you. In a few moves, he has called out “Check”. As you dither to save the King, for every potential move, his fingers twirl on his Queen and he calls out a louder “Check”. Like a trapped deer, you prance around this way and that, till he ends the agony and calls out a final “Check-mate”.

But the best of them can be cornered on a given day. You start off with a completely unconventional move. May be, you move the Bishop all the way. It is like sending the pinch-hitter in Cricket. The surprise element rattles the opponent. He expects you to be a champion player, over thinks and succumbs. That day, you feel on top of the world- you are India’s answer to Anatoly Karpov!